Ralya's Dream
by Greesha
Summary: Kyp and Jaina are married and have a daughter, Ralya. Jacen and Tenel Ka are married, and have a daughter, Aruna Ni. Then Ralya starts having a dream, someone dies, and a whole bunch of weird things start happening.
1. Chapter 1-Dreaming

Disclaimer-I do not own the Star Wars universe.  
  
This story is a bit weird, but oh well.  
  
Chapter 1-Dreaming  
  
Two lightsabers. One silver, one red. Dueling, though no hands held them...  
  
A face, so much like her own, yet the eyes held nothing but an empty void...  
  
The faces of everyone she loved, all her family and friends, all with those eyes that were full of emptiness...  
  
Suddenly it all disappeared.  
  
Ralya Durron woke in a cold sweat. She'd had that dream every night for the past two weeks. And she still had no idea what it meant.   
  
She heard the door slide open, felt her father's presence as he entered her room. "Same dream again?" Kyp asked his daughter.   
  
Ralya nodded. She was beginning to calm down, telling herself over and over that it was only a dream. "Same dream," she said.   
  
"Do you want to tell me about it?"   
  
Ralya began describing her dream: the dueling between the lightsabers, the empty eyes, the faces. "And I saw my face. Except my eyes..." Her voice trailed off. "I really can't describe it. It was like..."   
  
"Like you turned to the Dark Side?"   
  
"No!" The reply was sharper than she had intended. She continued in a softer tone, "It was as if my soul was dead but my body was still living. Like there was nothing inside..."   
  
"It was only a dream, Ralya."   
  
Again, Ralya nodded, but only halfheartedly. For when a dream comes every night for two weeks straight, it inevitably turns into a nightmare. "Did I wake mom?" she asked.   
  
Kyp shook his head. "No." Pause. "Would you like some help going back to sleep?"   
  
"Yes, thanks." Ralya lay back down and felt the Force wash over her, pulling her body into a deep restful sleep.   
  
Just before she was totally out, Ralya wondered why she couldn't do something like that to her mind.   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 


	2. Chapter 2-Waking

Chapter 2-Waking  
  
Jaina Durron woke early to find her husband already up. "Happy Birthday, sweetheart," he said.  
  
Jaina sat up fast. "Today's my birthday!" she exclaimed. "How could I forget?"  
  
"I think you were trying pretty hard to forget," Kyp teased. "The big 4-0, you know."  
  
"Stop it!" she protested, laughing. "You're making me feel old!"  
  
Kyp raised an eyebrow. "You feel old?" he asked, reminding her that he was over 50 himself.  
  
Jaina felt herself turning red. "Sorry," she apologized.  
  
He quickly shrugged it off. "Don't be. It's not your fault." His countenance quickly changed, and his mouth formed a mischievous grin. "What do you say to some birthday cake?"  
  
"You wouldn't want to spoil your appetite for breakfast, would you?" she returned, also grinning  
  
Then their lips met. The kiss deepened, but Jaina pulled away. "Is Ralya up yet?" she asked. "I have something to tell the two of you."  
  
She felt Kyp probe into her mind to try to drag out her secret, but quickly pushed him out. "You'll find out soon enough."  
  
Kyp gave her a curious look, but said no more. The two of them went to eat breakfast.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
  
Jaina waited until her husband and daughter were half-done with breakfast before she broke the news. "I'm pregnant," she said.  
  
The uttering of this statement had unpredictable results: Ralya spat her blue milk back into her glass, and Kyp began to choke.  
  
"You're-preg-pregnant?" Kyp gasped when he was finally able to speak. "But that's-that's-" Jaina shot him a look to kill, and he finished lamely, "Wonderful."  
  
Ralya exploded. "You can't have a baby!" she shouted. "Dad, you're old enough to be its grandfather! You're old enough to be my grandfather!"  
  
"Not unless your father had you when he was your age," Kyp replied dryly.  
  
Jaina looked ready to cry. "I thought you both would be happy!"  
  
"Before you decided to have a baby, why didn't you talk to me?" asked Ralya. "I'm part of this family, too, you know!" She stormed out.  
  
"I'll be right back," said Kyp, and went after her.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 


	3. Chapter 3-Birthdays

Chapter 3-Birthdays  
  
"Ralya, will you let me in?" Kyp asked angrily, pounding on her locked door.  
  
"Go away!" came a muffled sob from inside the room. "I don't wanna talk to you!"  
  
Kyp sighed. He would have to try a different approach. Ralya, I know you're used to being an only child, and I know this news came as a shock to you, he said silently.  
  
Ralya didn't catch all the words, but she understood the meaning. "Get out of my head!" she screamed. "You weren't too thrilled, either!"  
  
That hurt him more than his daughter realized. Had Jaina gotten that impression, too? "It's not that I'm unhappy," he explained. "It's just that...Well, this was totally unexpected." Pause. "Look, Ralya, you'll just have to face the facts. Your mother and I aren't as young as we used to be, and we'll need a lot of your help, whether you like it or not. When the baby comes, we won't stop loving you."  
  
No words answered this, only quiet crying. Just as Kyp was about to go, Ralya asked, "Does Mom know about my dream?"  
  
"No," he answered. "Why? Is that what's bothering you?"  
  
The door opened, and Ralya stepped out, her eyes red from crying and her face still wet. "When I see all the faces, there's one I don't recognize. He's worse than all the others. I think he's the baby."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
  
Jaina was wondering why this all had to happen on her birthday when she heard a buzz indicating an incoming call. Not really in the mood to talk, she took her time going over to answer it.  
  
It was Han and Leia, who were currently visiting Jacen, Tenel Ka, and their daughter Aruna Ni on Hapes. "Just wanted to wish you happy birthday, Princess," said Han.  
  
"Thanks, Dad," Jaina replied.  
  
"Is everything okay?" asked Leia.  
  
"Fine, Mom," she replied, trying to sound convincing.  
  
Leia gave her a look that said she didn't believe her, but changed the subject anyway. After talking for a while, Jaina asked, "Can I talk to Jacen?"  
  
Her parents' images disappeared, replaced by an image of her twin brother. "Happy birthday, Jaca," she said.  
  
"Happy birthday, Jaya," he replied. "What's new?"  
  
"Oh, nothing."  
  
"Liar. There's something different."  
  
Ralya and Kyp appeared at that moment, and Jaina, grateful for the distraction, said, "Come say happy birthday to Jacen!"  
  
Kyp stepped over. "So, how does it feel to be forty?"  
  
Jaina elbowed him in the ribs. "Hello, Kyp," said Jacen. Even after sixteen years, he had never quite gotten used to the idea of Jaina and Kyp being married.  
  
Tenel Ka's face appeared next to her husband's. "Happy birthday, Jaina. Look, I hope you don't mind, but Aruna Ni wants to speak to Ralya privately."  
  
"Goodbye, then," said Jaina.  
  
"Anytime you want to tell me what's going on, call," said Jacen.  
  
Jaina smiled. "I'll do that." She and Kyp left the room, leaving Ralya alone with a hologram of Aruna Ni.  
  
"I need to tell you about something," Aruna Ni said.  
  
"Gee, I wondered why you asked to talk to me," Ralya replied sarcastically.  
  
"Stop it! This is serious! Have you been having weird dreams lately?"  
  
Ralya stared at her cousin in shock. "Yes."  
  
"With two lightsabers fighting, red and-"  
  
"Silver," Ralya finished. She hadn't made the connection before, but both she and Aruna Ni had silver lightsabers.  
  
"And there's faces," continued Aruna Ni.  
  
"Yes," said Ralya. "Only, one of them I don't recognize. But I think I know who it is."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
  
"What do you think that was all about?" Kyp asked Jaina after they left the room.  
  
Jaina shrugged. "I dunno. Girl stuff, I guess." Pause. "About the baby, Kyp-"  
  
He stopped her mid-sentence. "I'm sorry. It just came as a shock, that's all. It wasn't what I was expecting you to say."  
  
"Is Ralya okay with it?"  
  
Kyp hesitated. Should he tell her about the dream? Not yet, he decided. "She's fine. She's just a little worried. And a little jealous. She has been an only child for fourteen years, now, you know."  
  
"Mom!" Ralya called. "Uncle Jacen wants to talk to you again."  
  
"I'll be there in a minute!" Jaina shouted back. She turned to her husband. "Kyp, do you think we're too old?"  
  
"Why, do you?"  
  
Jaina brushed a strand of hair out of his face, hair that had once been black but was now mostly grey. She looked into his beautiful green eyes, the part of him that hadn't changed even when the rest of his body was aging. "I guess we're both young at heart."  
  
She pressed her lips to his in a brief kiss, then went to talk to her brother.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 


	4. Chapter 4-Secrets

Chapter 4-Secrets  
  
"What was that all about?" Jaina asked Ralya after saying goodbye to her twin.  
  
"What?" asked Ralya with an innocent look.  
  
"Your conversation with Aruna Ni. What was the big secret?"  
  
"Nothing."  
  
She was hiding something, Jaina knew, but what? And why? "When you're ready to tell me..."  
  
Ralya nodded. "I will."  
  
"Is Aruna Ni coming back to the Jedi Academy anytime soon?"  
  
Ralya shrugged. "Dunno. I didn't ask her."  
  
Aruna Ni had left the Jedi Academy on Yavin IV a few weeks before, after the death of Ta'a Chume, her great-grandmother. She had planned to return after a few days, but had ended up staying much longer. Ralya often felt bad for her cousin; since her family lived on Yavin IV, she could go home any time she wanted, but Aruna Ni rarely saw her parents.  
  
"Speaking of the academy, shouldn't you be there now?" Jaina pointed out.  
  
"Sithspawn! Yes, I should be!" exclaimed Ralya. "Bye, mom!" She ran out the door.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
  
Sweat dripped down Ralya's body, soaking her shirt and the blindfold that covered her eyes. She couldn't see the training probe, but by feeling through the Force she could easily locate it.  
  
A ray shot out of the probe, and Ralya pivoted her wrist to easily deflect it off her lightsaber blade. As she did so, she couldn't help thinking about her lightsaber being a part of her dream...  
  
She didn't notice the next ray coming until she felt a pain in her arm.  
  
"Your mind is somewhere else, Ralya," Jedi Master Tahiri Veila said sternly.  
  
Ralya switched off her lightsaber and pulled off the blindfold. "I know. I'm sorry."  
  
"What's wrong?" asked Tahiri gently.  
  
"Nothing. Everything. I don't know." Ralya sighed. Then: "Do dreams show the future?" she asked suddenly.  
  
"Is that what's bothering you? You had a dream?"  
  
Ralya nodded.  
  
"Well, as Master Skywalker is so fond of saying, 'Always in motion is the future.' Dreams can't tell you what will happen for certain; they only tell you what might happen. You can still change it. Does that answer your question?"  
  
Ralya shrugged. "I guess so." But it didn't help if she had no idea what she had to change.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
  
Two lightsabers, fighting...  
  
The faces...  
  
The empty eyes...  
  
Only this time, she couldn't wake up.  
  
"Ralya, wake up! Ralya, what's the matter?"  
  
Ralya threw her arms around her mother and held her tight. "My dream! It was worse than usual. And I couldn't wake up!" She went on to tearfully describe the nightmare that had been haunting her sleep for what seemed like forever.  
  
"Shhh, it's alright. You should have told me if you were having bad dreams."  
  
"She told me," said Kyp from the doorway. "We didn't want to worry you."  
  
"What does the dream mean?" asked Ralya.  
  
"I don't know," said Jaina. "You should have told me before. I don't like you keeping secrets."  
  
"I'm sorry, Mom."  
  
"It's okay. The dreams aren't your fault. Tomorrow we'll go see Uncle Luke. Maybe he'll have some idea what they mean."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 


	5. Chapter 5-Nevermore

Chapter 5-Nevermore   
  
"It's not a dream exactly," Ralya tried to explain. "It's more of a vision. A premonition." She sighed. "I'm not making any sense, am I?"   
  
"You're making perfect sense," assured Luke Skywalker. "Go on."   
  
"First I see two lightsabers. One is silver and one is red. They're fighting, but no one's holding them. Uncle Luke, my lightsaber is silver."   
  
He nodded. "I know. Are they fighting by themselves, or are their wielders invisible?"   
  
Ralya looked confused. "I don't know. I don't think...No one's holding them. But there are people fighting."   
  
"I don't understand what you mean."   
  
"Neither do I." Pause. "And then I see my face, but my eyes are different. They're empty. Like I no longer had any soul. And I see everyone else's face, and they look the same way."   
  
"Do the lightsabers go away when you see the faces?"   
  
The confused look appeared again. "Yes, I think they do. I never thought about it before." She looked up at Luke. "Is it a warning? Is it telling me the future?" Before he could reply, she continued, "You have to understand why I'm so worried. I hardly ever have dreams, but now I've had this one for fifteen nights in a row."   
  
"Ralya, I really don't know what to tell you. Yes, you could be seeing the future. But the future can change before it gets here. Just because you have a dream doesn't mean everyone's going to die."   
  
Ralya shrugged. "I guess not."   
  
After they talked for a while longer, Ralya left. It didn't occur to her until that night that she hadn't told him that Aruna Ni was having the same dream.   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
  
The next morning, Ralya woke bright and early with the sense that something was wrong. It took her a second, but then she realized what: she hadn't had the dream.   
  
Her first reaction was a feeling of extreme relief; the feeling that it was all over.   
  
But then she thought, no, it wasn't over. And somehow she knew that nothing would ever be the same.   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 


	6. Chapter 6-Rain

Chapter 6-Rain   
  
It was raining when Ralya stepped outside; not a hard rain, but more of a cool mist, as if there was simply too much moisture in the air. It was beginning to get light out, and the rain shimmered with all the colors of the rainbow.   
  
"You're up early," came a voice.   
  
Ralya spun around and saw her friend Brekk Jacorim. Somehow she hadn't even sensed him through the Force. "Aren't you, also?" she asked.   
  
"Oh, I'm always up this early," he replied.   
  
She shrugged. "Whatever."   
  
Pause.   
  
"It's raining," said Brekk.   
  
"I like the rain."   
  
"Since when?"   
  
"Since now."   
  
"You okay, Ralya?"   
  
"No."   
  
When Ralya didn't elaborate, he pressed, "Something the matter?"   
  
"I don't wanna talk about it."   
  
"You sound like you need to talk about it."   
  
"Sithspit, Jacorim, you are so aggravating!" she shouted. "I'm tired of talking about it because nobody seems to care. So why don't you leave me alone?"   
  
He shrugged, but didn't leave.   
  
Ralya sighed. "I've been having a dream for the past two weeks."   
  
"You never told me about it."   
  
"Why the sith should I?"   
  
"You're not in a good mood this morning, are you?"   
  
She decided to ignore that truth. "Last night, I didn't have the dream."   
  
"So aren't you glad? Relieved?"   
  
"I don't know," she confessed. "Do you think I'm going crazy?"   
  
"You mean, crazier than usual?"   
  
"This discussion is pointless!" Ralya turned around and walked off.   
  
A dozen steps later, she screamed.   
  
Brekk ran over to where she was standing, frozen in shock. "What's wr-" He looked down and saw the answer to his question. It was Dashana, a Twi'lek student at the Jedi Academy. She was dead. 


	7. Chapter 7-Dashana

Chapter 7-Dashana   
  
Ralya stood there numbly, staring at Dashana's dead body lying there on the ground. "She can't be dead," she whispered. "We would have felt it in the Force. We would have felt her die."   
  
But Brekk noticed something Ralya hadn't. "No," he said. "Not with that."   
  
Ralya looked where he was pointing. Lying on the ground, not too far away, was an ysalamir. "We need to go tell someonem" she said, her words barely audible.   
  
"We should take her with us," said Brekk. "Doesn't seem right to leave her alone."   
  
Ralya didn't seem to hear him. "She's eleven, Brekk. She can't be dead." Tears filled her green eyes, visibly threatening to spill out over her cheeks already damp from the rain. "She can't be dead, Brekk!"   
  
Brekk put his arm around her. "It's okay, Ralya."   
  
"It's my dream," she said as the tears fell onto Brekk's shirt. "It's because of my dream."   
  
Brekk looked at her in shock. "Is that the problem? Do you think this is your fault?"   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
  
An hour later everyone knew. But Ralya didn't care. She had locked herself in her room.   
  
Why? she wondered. Why did this have to happen to Dashana? Why did this have to happen to me?   
  
Her questions were directed at no one, and she received no answers.   
  
Face buried in her pillow, Ralya sensed rather that saw Brekk at her window. She heard the screech of scraping parts as he opened the lock with the Force, then pushed the window up. "Can I come in?" he asked.   
  
"I don't care," she sobbed. "You will anyway."   
  
Brekk climbed in the window, then shut it. He sat down on Ralya's bed next to her. "It's not your fault, Ralya."   
  
"What the sith do you know, Jacorim?" she said, rolling over on her side to face him. "Why can't you leave me alone?"   
  
"Because no matter how much you say you want to be left alone, I think you need to talk to somebody. Or, at the very least, you need to listen.   
  
"Ralya, Dashana's death was not an accident. Someone or something killed her. By shifting the blame to yourself, you're letting a murderer get away with his crime."   
  
"Are you suggesting that we try to find the killer?"   
  
"Hey, it seems like the crazy kind of thing you would do." He flashed her a grin.   
  
Big mistake. "How can you smile?" she shouted at him. "Someone just died!"   
  
"It doesn't mean your life has to end, too!"   
  
Ralya stared at him for a long moment. Then, unexpectedly, she said, "I'm sorry." Pause. "But how did Dashana die?"   
  
Brekk shrugged. "We don't know."   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 


	8. Chapter 8-Questions

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
  
Chapter 8-Questions   
  
The faces...The eyes...   
Then, darkness.   
  
Jaina woke with a start. She had been having a nightmare. Yet she couldn't recall ever falling asleep.   
  
She felt a strange sensation that she hadn't had since she was pregnant with Ralya, and reached out with the Force to calm the tiny, barely formed life inside her. As she did so, she felt Kyp reaching out to her with a question: What's wrong?   
  
"I think I just had Ralya's dream."   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
  
"What do you think you're doing?" Ben Skywalker demanded of Brekk and Ralya.   
  
"We need to see Uncle Luke," said Ralya.   
  
"It's about Dashana," Brekk added.   
  
"Alright, spill it," said Ben. "What's up?"   
  
"Oh, um, nothing much," said Ralya.   
  
"We're trying to find out who killed Dashana," said Brekk at the same time.   
  
Ben gave them a stern look. "You kids stay out of it. It's a very serious matter."   
  
"I'm not a kid!" Ralya insisted. "And I think the death has something to do with my dream."   
  
That got Ben's attention. "What?"   
  
"If we don't stop them, more Jedi will die."   
  
"Stop who?"   
  
"I don't know."   
  
Ben paused, unsure of what to do. "What kind of a dream are you having that you think it's connected to Dashana's death?"   
  
"Sithspit, Ben, stop asking questions and let me see Uncle Luke!"   
  
"See me about what?"   
  
Ralya turned to face Luke Skywalker and his wife Mara, who had just appeared. "My dream! My dream is connected to Dashana's death, but I don't know how! If we don't stop it, everyone's gonna die, and I want to stop it, but I don't know how!"   
  
She was nearly in tears by the end of this speech, but continued in a whisper, "Aruna Ni was having the same dream."   
  
All was silent for three whole seconds, and then everyone began talking at once. When Ralya was finally able to make sense of their words, she learned this: Aruna Ni was on Yavin IV. And she was dying. 


	9. Chapter 9-Answers

Chapter 9-Answers   
  
"Aruna Ni is dying?" Ralya asked in shock. "What do you mean? What happened to her?"   
  
"We don't know," replied Mara. "We tried to figure out what was wrong, but she seems to be perfectly healthy, apart from the fact that she's unconscious and we still haven't been able to wake her."   
  
"Was she like that when she arrived?"   
  
"No," said Luke. "She was semiconscious when we first saw her. She managed to say one word."   
  
"What?"   
  
" 'Ralya.' "   
  
Silence. Then: "We have too manyquestions," said Ralya. "What we need are some answers."   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
  
Ralya sat by Aruna Ni's bed, holding her cousin's hand. "You're gonna be okay," she whispered. "I'm gonna find out what's wrong   
and I'm gonna fix it. You're gonna be okay." She spoke more to convince himself than to console Aruna Ni, who probably couldn't hear her anyway.   
  
"We're gonna find out who did it," said Brekk from behind her.   
  
"Go away, Jacorim," she said weakly, but he could tell by her tone of voice that she didn't mean it.   
  
"Maybe if we could find a connection between this and your dream..." Brekk's voice trailed off.   
  
"Maybe it's not about the dream. Maybe it's just a weird coincidence."   
  
"I don't think so."   
  
"Neither do I."   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 


	10. Chapter 10-Aruna Ni

Chapter 10-Aruna Ni   
  
Jacen and Tenel Ka stared at their daughter, lying there, barely breathing, looking barely alive. "What happened to her?" Jacen asked Luke.   
  
"It was a disturbance in the Force," Luke replied. "Caused by someone or something. She's lucky she's alive. Dashana died of the same thing."   
  
"How did it happen?" asked Tenel Ka.   
  
"I don't know," said Luke. "Ralya and Brekk are determined to find out, but I don't want them to get hurt."   
  
"You can't stop them," said Kyp from the doorway. "Ralya won't stop until she finds out what's going on."   
  
He could tell how worried everyone was by the fact that Jacen didn't snap at him to stay out of it. Instead, there was a silence, followed by Tenel Ka's whisper: "I'm sure you don't want your daughter to die, too."   
  
"Aruna Ni isn't dead!" insisted Jacen.   
  
"But she's fading," said Tenel Ka. "She's fading fast. Soon, she'll be all gone."   
  
As they all stood there in silence, they didn't even notice Brekk sneak away.   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
  
"Dashana died because of a disturbance in the Force," Brekk told Ralya.   
  
"That's impossible," she said. "What about the ysalamir? If she died within the ysalamir's bubble, it couldn't have been related to the Force...could it have?"   
  
"I--I don't know."   
  
"This is getting scarier and scarier. What if Dashana was having the dream, and that's why she died? What if I'm gonna die next?"   
  
"Ralya, you're not gonna die," whispered Brekk in a worried voice.   
  
"How do you know that?" she shot back.   
  
"Because..." He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to him in a big hug. "Because you're my friend, and you're too young to die."   
  
"So you'll help me?"   
  
Brekk nodded. "Yes."   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
  
"Was Dashana having any bad dreams?" Ralya asked Lyss, the dead girl's best friend.   
  
Lyss thought about it. "I don't know," she said finally. "She hadn't told me about anything."   
  
"But if she were having a bad dream, wouldn't she have told you?"   
  
"I-I guess so."   
  
"Why do you think she died?"   
  
Lyss was silent for so long a time that Ralya was about to repeat the question when she whispered, "I think Dashana knew something."   
  
"What?" Ralya asked, trying to contain her excitement at finally having some clue.   
  
"Have you ever heard of a creature called an anigari?"   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 


	11. Chapter 11-Anigari

Chapter 11-Anigari   
  
"What is an anigari?" Ralya asked Lyss.   
  
"I don't know," Lyss replied. "Dashana said something about it, but she didn't tell me what it was. Do you know?"   
  
"I've never heard of such a creature. You're sure you don't know anything about it?"   
  
Lyss shook her head. "No. I'm sorry."   
  
"It's okay. Thanks."   
  
As Ralya turned to leave, Lyss whispered, "Are you gonna find out how Dashana died?"   
  
"I hope so, Lyss. I hope so."   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
  
"G'night, mom. G'night, dad." Ralya went to her room that night, leaving her parents alone and talking about her.   
  
"I think I should talk to her," said Jaina. "She must be so scared, with her dream, and then Dashana, and now Aruna Ni. I shouldn't tell her I had the dream, too, should I?"   
  
"I think you should just let her alone," Kyp advised. "I know this from experience. If she wants to talk, let her come to you. Otherwise she'll just tell you everything's fine and you won't be able to get anything out of her."   
  
"But I can't," Jaina insisted. Tears filled her eyes as she said, "My mother wasn't there for me when I was growing up. When Ralya was born, I promised myself I'd always be there for her."\   
  
"Jaina, don't make promises you can't keep. You can't hold her forever."   
  
She brushed away the tear that had fallen down her cheek. "I know. But I can at least be there for her now."   
  
"So you're going to talk to her?" Kyp asked, even though he already knew the answer.   
  
Jaina nodded. "Yes." Then she got up and went to Ralya's room.   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
  
There was a knock at the door. "Ralya, it's mom. Can I come in?"   
  
Ralya sighed. "I suppose so."   
  
Jaina walked through the door and sat down next to her daughter on the bed. Looking at her, she suddenly realized how much they looked alike; they had the same oval face and short dark hair…but Ralya definitely had her father's eyes.   
  
Her thoughts were interrupted when Ralya asked, "What did you wanna talk about?"   
  
"About your dream," she replied.   
  
All the tears Ralya had been holding in all day spilled out. "Oh, mom, I'm just so scared! I don't know what's gonna happen, and I don't know why Dashana died, and I don't know why Aruna Ni is like this…She was having the same dream."   
  
"She was?" So there was more to this dream than met the eye. And Ralya had said that she was worried about the baby…   
  
Ralya sat up and looked into her mother's eyes. "You had the dream, too, didn't you?" she asked. "Something is happening with the baby."   
  
Jaina had changed her mind about telling her daughter about the dream, but now it was too late. "Yes, I had the dream. But the baby…" Suddenly she realized what Ralya was really afraid about. "Ralya, you're not gonna die. Not if I can help it you're not."   
  
Ralya sniffed, wiped her wet face with the back of her hand. "Thanks, mom. But I don't think anyone can protect me from this, whatever it is. And it's just a matter of time…"   
  
"For what?" asked Jaina. She wasn't used to her daughter being so pessimistic. "Ralya, don't talk like that. Please."   
  
Ralya went on as if she hadn't heard. "Soon, everyone will be dead, or dying. There's nothing we can do to stop it." Suddenly, as if snapping out of a trance, she jerked her head up and stared at Jaina. "Have you ever heard of an anigari?" 


	12. Chapter 12-Limbo

Chapter 12-Limbo   
  
Aruna Ni lay there, neither dead nor alive, oblivious to what was going on outside her physical body. She was dreaming.   
  
But the dreams were unlike any others she had experienced. First she had the dream that she had been dreaming for the past two weeks, over and over again, like a broken record; and somehow it was even more tortuous due to the fact that she couldn't even scream.   
  
Then she saw, over and over again, in her mind, what she had seen just before she blacked out. She knew that Ralya would be trying to find out what had killed Dashana, and what had done this to her. She also knew that she was the only one who knew what an anigari was.   
  
Ralya would die. Everyone would die. Because she couldn't tell them. Trapped in the tortures of her own mind, she wondered if there was still a chance for her to become alive again, or if the only way out of this was death…   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
  
"Tenel, let's go, you need some rest," Jacen said to his wife. Tenel Ka hadn't slept ever since they arrived on Yavin IV, and she hadn't left her daughter's side.   
  
Tenel Ka shook her head. "I want to stay here," she said stubbornly. "And I'm not tired."   
  
An argument would have followed but for what happened next: Aruna Ni began to talk, or at the very least, try to. "Ah-ah-ah," was the only sound that came out of her mouth. Her lips were trembling, as if she was trying to move them but couldn't.   
  
Tenel Ka began crying tears of joy. "Listen, she's trying to say something!"   
  
But she could never get farther than that one vowel sound. And they would never know what she had been trying to say.   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 


	13. Chapter 13-Searching

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
  
Chapter 13-Searching   
  
Ralya was dreaming again. But the dream had changed. She saw herself, fighting against an enemy she could not see. She saw the faces of all the people, many clearly dead, but some not dead but not alive, like Aruna Ni was now. She cried out in her sleep. She couldn't bear looking at them any longer.   
  
But then she realized that she was not one of the dead, nor one of those who hung in limbo...   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
  
Ralya woke in the middle of the night, and jumped out of bed. She realized what a fool she had been. She had been selfish, worrying about her own life when the lives of so many others were in danger.   
  
She went straight to the computer, hoping to find something that might give her a clue as to what an anigari was. Somehow she knew that if she found out that one thing, she would find out everything else.   
  
Unfortunately, it proved to be the hardest thing to find.   
  
She was still fruitlessly searching when Brekk came up behind her. "Hello," she said without turning around.   
  
"You're up early this morning," he replied.   
  
"Yeah, well, I had another dream."   
  
"And?"   
  
"We have to find out what an anigari is. It's the key to save everyone from dying, or ending up like Aruna Ni."   
  
"Ralya, that's..." He paused. "That's what I came to tell you."   
  
"Tell me what?" she asked.   
  
"This morning, they found someone else dead."   
  
"What? Who?"   
  
"Lyss."   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
  
Why Lyss? Ralya thought. Why now?   
  
"I almost know how to stop this," she said. "All I need to know is what an anigari is. Why did Lyss have to die?"   
  
"Wait...what do you have to find out?" asked Brekk with sudden   
interest.   
  
"An anigari. Why, have you heard of it?"   
  
"I think so."   
  
"So what is it?" she shouted in excitement.   
  
He sighed. "I wish I knew."   
  
"What do you mean?"   
  
"It's something dangerous--"   
  
"We've established that fact," said Ralya drily.   
  
"I read something about it once. It was the product of a genetic engineering experiment. No one knew exactly what it was or what it did, but there were people who would kill to get their hands on it." He looked Ralya in the eye. "Those people were enemies of the Jedi."   
  
"How do you know this?" she asked him.   
  
He shrugged. "I read things that no one else thinks are interesting enough or important enough to bother looking at."   
  
"So what does an anigari do to a Jedi?"   
  
"It causes some kind of disturbance in the Force. Possibly--"   
  
"...one that could kill a Jedi," Ralya said, finishing his sentence. Suddenly she realized something. "But what about the ysalamiri? In order for the anigari to create a disturbance in the Force, they had to be where the Force was. But Dashana was near an ysalamir, and Lyss..."   
  
"Lyss was too," said Brekk.   
  
"So how could they create a disturbance in the Force when they were in an area where there was no Force?"   
  
They must be an enemy far more formiddable than we thought, Brekk thought, or else there's still something we aren't getting.   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 


	14. Chapter 14-Koori

Chapter 14-Koori   
  
"It's okay," Ralya told Aruna Ni as she held her cousin's limp, cold hand. "We've almost got it figured out. We almost know what's happening. We're gonna find out how to save you."   
  
She wondered if Aruna Ni could hear anything she was saying. She decided to tell her everything, just in case.   
  
"We found out about the anigari," Ralya told Aruna Ni everything they knew so far. "So you see, we're so close to saving you. Just hang on."   
  
"But none of that is true, you know," came a voice.   
  
Ralya turned around in surprise. She hadn't sensed anyone there.   
  
A tall, blonde woman stepped out of the shadows. Ralya recognized her to be Koori, one of the older students at the Academy. "I'm sorry if I startled you," she said.   
  
"What do you mean, it's not true?" asked Ralya.   
  
Koori's expression changed instantly to one of nervousness and fear. "I'm sorry I said anything. I-I can't tell you. They'll-" She stopped mid-sentence, then turned and fled.   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
  
"Have you seen Koori lately?" Ralya asked Brekk.   
  
He shook his head. "No. Why?"   
  
"I think she knows something." She quickly told him of her strange encounter with Koori earlier that day.   
  
"That's weird," Brekk replied. "She just ran away?"   
  
Ralya nodded. "She said we're wrong. She knows what an anigari is, but she's afraid to tell us."   
  
"Maybe she's afraid they'll get her, too."   
  
They looked into each other's eyes for a moment, then said at the same time, "We have to find her."   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
  
They found Koori a few hours later, sitting alone by the river that flowed past the Academy. "Koori!" Ralya called when they were still a few yards away.   
  
The woman made no reply, as if she hadn't heard.   
  
Brekk and Ralya came closer. "Could you tell us more about the anigari?" Brekk asked.   
  
Again she gave no indication that she even noticed them standing there, so Brekk began to repeat himself. "Could you--"   
  
"Go away!" Koori shouted. Brekk and Ralya jumped in surprise. Koori continued: "I don't want to tell you anything!" Then the tone of her voice underwent a sudden change and the volume dropped to a little below a whisper. "Don't you see? They'll kill me, too."   
  
"Koori, please!" Ralya begged. "If we don't find out what an anigari is soon, more people will die!"   
  
Koori shook her head slowly, her countenance that of one who has long ago accepted defeat. "It doesn't matter. They'll win anyhow."   
  
"Who?" Ralya persisted.   
  
But Koori would say nothing more.   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
  
Ralya felt hopeless and frustrated. Koori wouldn't tell them the one thing they needed to know. And people would keep dying until they found out. She had tried to relax and sleep on it, but so many things were going through her head that even Jedi techniques for aiding sleep couldn't overcome her insomnia.   
  
Even as the early morning sunlight crept into her bedroom, the situation didn't seem any brighter.   
  
Ralya sighed and went to get something to eat. Nothing could erase the problem at hand, she knew, but maybe something could   
at the very least help her forget it. But as she passed her bedroom window, she stopped. Something was stuck to the outside.   
  
She opened the window, then reached out and took the scrap of paper. It was a note from Koori:   
  
I'm sorry about the way I acted. It's not safe for me, for any of us. We need to meet alone.   
  
On the back Koori had drawn a crude map and written the time and place of their meeting. Ralya estimated that it would take them a few hours to walk there. She wondered why Koori would choose a meeting place so far away.   
  
She reached to close the window, and looked out at the ground. Just beneath her window was a tangled nest of pale blond hair. And attatched to that hair was a very pale face.   
  
Koori was dead.   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 


	15. Chapter 15-Numb

Chapter 15-Numb   
  
When Dashana died, Ralya had felt pain. When Lyss died, she had felt regret.   
  
Now, staring calmly at Koori's body lying underneath her bedroom window, she felt nothing. She merely thought, Isn't this strange? Everyone who talks to us dies...   
  
And then she felt a strong anger, an anger directed at herself. She didn't seem to care that Koori was dead. She had seen so much death over the past few days that she didn't care anymore.   
  
Ralya stared at the body once more, and then she stumbled into the refresher and threw up.   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
  
Ralya left the house then, without waking up her parents to tell them where she was going, not even bothering to leave a note. She realized that it was probably the stupidest thing she'd ever done, but at that point, she didn't really care.   
  
She went to wake Brekk, but found that he was already up. "What are you doing here?" he asked.   
  
"Koori's dead," she said bluntly.   
  
Brekk made no reply.   
  
"Before she died, she left me a note. She wanted to meet somewhere." Ralya showed him the paper.   
  
"So?" Brekk asked.   
  
"So, maybe she knew she was gonna die and she left something there for us to find."   
  
"So we're going to walk there."   
  
"Shouldn't take more than a few hours."   
  
Silence.   
  
"Jacorim, if you're not coming, I'll go without you."   
  
"I'm coming," he said hurridly.   
  
Ralya smiled, but not really. "I thought you would."   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 


	16. Chapter 16-Discovery

Much confusion will occur, but please don't stop reading.   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
  
Chapter 16-Discovery   
  
"Are we there yet?" Brekk asked Ralya.   
  
She shrugged. "I dunno. Let's stop anyway." Ralya was tired, and she hadn't eaten anything all day. She had thought that it would only take them two or three hours to reach the meeting place. Now it was almost midday, and hot and humid as well. She began to wonder if she had followed the map correctly.   
  
They both sat down in the shade of a large tree. "Are you sure you know where we're going?" Brekk asked doubtfully.   
  
"No," she answered.   
  
Suddenly Ralya felt something; or, to be more precise, she felt nothing. It was as if the Force was no longer there.   
  
She turned to Brekk, and he nodded. "I feel it, too."   
  
"There's ysalamiri nearby," she said, putting into words what they both knew.   
  
"Yes," came a very familiar-sounding voice. "And I suggest you two don't move. I have a blaster pointed at you and I don't think you want to find out how well I aim."   
  
Ralya and Brekk froze.   
  
"Now, turn around.   
  
Ever so slowly, they turned, and looked into the face of Koori.   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
  
"Ralya is dead."   
  
Jaina shook her head as tears welled up in her eyes. "No! It's not true! It can't be true!"   
  
"I'm afraid it is," Luke told her. "Her body was found this morning, along with the bodies of Koori and Brekk."   
  
"She can't be dead! I would have felt her die!"   
  
"Jaina, I saw her body."   
  
"No!" Jaina screamed, and ran. She threw herself upon her bed, sobbing.   
  
In a moment she felt the light touch of Kyp's hand on her shoulder. Jaina?   
  
"Kyp…Ralya's dead…" She could barely get the horrible words out.   
  
He knew. Luke had told him. He wanted to cry, too, but he didn't think it would help Jaina much.   
  
"Kyp…She can't be dead!" she sobbed. "I would have felt it!"   
  
"There was an ysalamir. We wouldn't have felt her die." He bit his lip to hold in the tears and tried unsuccessfully to control the shakiness of his voice. "Jaina, they found her body."   
  
"Whoever it was, it can't be her."   
  
"Jaina, please! Don't do this to yourself!"   
  
But Kyp couldn't help thinking: What if she was right?   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
  
DON'T STOP READING! THIS IS NOT THE END! It is merely Major Plot Twist Numero Uno. Get ready for Major Plot Twist #2! 


	17. Chapter 17-Lies

Chapter 17-Lies   
  
"But--but you're dead!" Brekk sputtered, staring at Koori, who was clearly still alive.   
  
Koori smiled evilly. "Apparently I'm not."   
  
"I saw your body," Ralya whispered, wondering how this could be happening. Koori was dead. But she was standing before them, living. It wasn't possible.   
  
"That was my clone," Koori said.   
  
"There was a moment of shocked silence as all this sunk in. Then: "You killed your clone?"   
  
Koori merely shrugged, as if it were of no importance. "Desperate times call for desperate measures. You were getting too close."   
  
"So we were right about the anigari?" Ralya realized.   
  
"Shut up and walk," Koori said angrily, waving her blaster.   
  
Taking that as a yes, they all walked.   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
  
After they had been walking for about twenty minutes, Ralya spoke again. "They'll come looking for us, you know. They'll know we're missing. They'll worry."   
  
"No they won't," said Koori. "They think you're dead. They've seen your bodies with their own eyes."   
  
"But--but that's impossible! We're not dead!" Brekk insisted.   
  
Koori grimaced. "Unfortunately not. Not yet, at any rate. No, you're not dead. The bodies were your clones."   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 


	18. Chapter 18-Within

Chapter 18-Within   
  
Aruna Ni knew that something was wrong, but she didn't know what. She could sense that something was going on, but she couldn't see or hear anything around her. She was trapped in her mind, banging on the walls and trying to get out. But she couldn't.   
  
And then Ralya's presence disappeared.   
  
But she knew that her cousin wasn't dead. Somehow they were disconnected, that was all.   
  
Ysalamiri, she suddenly realized. And that meant that Ralya was in danger.   
  
She could do nothing about it. Nothing.   
  
She was trapped within.   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
  
If anyone had been near Aruna Ni then, they might have seen a tear slide down her pale cheek, and they would have known that she wasn't as dead as she seemed. But no one was there.   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 


	19. Chapter 19-Captive

Chapter 19-Captive   
  
Ralya barely noticed where they were walking; she was too busy trying to think of a way to grab the blaster from Koori. She didn't have the Force to aid her…but then again, she realized, neither did Koori.   
  
She tensed, ready to spring.   
  
"Don't even think about it," said Koori flatly.   
  
Apparently Brekk had been thinking the same thing, however; for at that moment he jumped on Koori and knocked the blaster out of her hand. Koori fell next to Ralya, and for a millisecond Ralya felt the Force.   
  
But then Koori pulled the blaster to her telekinetically, then leapt up and pointed it at them, and it was all over.   
  
"You try that again and you're dead," Koori growled through clenched teeth.   
  
Ralya just stared. "What…how…what about the ysalamiri?"   
  
Koori said nothing.   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
  
Jaina only felt her daughter's presence for a small fraction of a second. But that was all she needed to know that Ralya was alive.   
  
But would she stay that way for long?   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
  
They walked for only a few minutes more, and then Koori stopped and dropped the pack she had been carrying on the ground. She motioned to the entrance to an underground hideaway, so well hidden that Brekk and Ralya would never have seen it had Koori not pointed it out. "In there," she ordered.   
  
Before going down, Ralya looked up, realized that this could very well be her last glimpse of sky for a long, long time. 


	20. Chapter 20-Underground

Chapter 20-Underground   
  
Ralya and Brekk were in complete darkness, in a prison cell that smelled like a wet wookiee. But that wasn't the worst of it.   
  
The worst was the fear.   
  
"Ralya?" Brekk whispered, feeling around for his friend in the dark.   
  
"What?" she whispered back. She found his hand and held it tight.   
  
"Why are they keeping us alive?"   
  
"What is your problem?" she asked angrilly. "Do you seriously want to die?"   
  
"I just don't understand. We know so much. If we ever escape, we'll be their biggest threat. So why did they go through the trouble of killing our clones? Why didn't they kill us?"   
  
Silence. Then: "I don't know. I really don't know."   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
  
They found out a short while later, when they were led out of the cell and into a light that, although dim, hurt their eyes that were so used to darkness.   
  
"Wonderful to see you again," said Koori. She wasn't even trying to sound like she meant it.   
  
"Yeah, long time no see," Ralya replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Couldn't we have kept it that way?"   
  
"Shut up," Koori ordered. "You just be glad I don't have the final decision, because if it was up to me you'd both be dead by now!"   
  
"Koori!" came a warning voice from somewhere across the room.   
  
"I don't care what you say!" she shouted. "I want them to die!"   
  
"You'd better be careful." The speaker, a tall man, came into view. "You are not irreplaceable. You know that, don't you?"   
  
Koori hung her head, but Ralya could still glimpse a mutinous look in her eye.   
  
"Why did you go through all of this trouble?" Brekk demanded of the   
man. "You could have killed us a long time ago. So why didn't you?"   
  
He smiled. There was no humor in it, only evilness. "My prisoners, making demands of me! Ha!" Then he laughed, and the laugh   
was even worse than the smile. "You should know," he said eventually.   
  
"What do you mean?" asked Ralya.   
  
"Don't play dumb!" he ordered. "I know you're not really Ralya and Brekk. So where are they?"   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
  
Brekk stared. "Wha--" he began.   
  
Ralya stepped on his foot, prompting him to shut up. "All right, you win," she said.   
  
Brekk turned to her, his mouth dropped open in shock.   
  
"I'm not really Ralya. She knew what you really were, Koori, and she sent me instead to keep herself out of danger. Don't bother looking for her, I'm sure she's far away by now, and safe."   
  
"So who are you?" the man asked.   
  
"You can call me Atta Nelde. I'm a first-class Human Replica Droid."   
  
"I can see easily if you're lying, you know. I can take you apart and see if you die."   
  
Ralya, or Atta Nelde, smiled. "I wouldn't do that if I were you, not if you don't want to die."   
  
"What do you mean?"   
  
"I have a self-destruct program. If you so much as touch me, I will set it off and kill everyone here. You will all die.   
  
"And you won't be able to use either of us to break the other. I'm not   
Ralya, so I don't care about Brekk, and he doesn't care about me."   
  
She smiled again as the man realized how right she was.   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
  
Minutes later, Brekk and Ralya were taken to separate cell, and Ralya felt like crying. She needed to talk to Brekk. She didn't want to lie to him like this, but she couldn't tell him anything, in case   
there were bugs. Maybe it was a good thing they were no longer together.   
  
She and Brekk could not collaborate on an escape plan. But she hoped Brekk could at least escape on his own. He would be more   
likely to do this if he thought Ralya was already safe. Or else he would see through the bluff, knowing that Ralya would never   
intentionally lead him into danger.   
  
Either way, Brekk would be hurt, physically or mentally. And either way, she would probably die. 


	21. Chapter 21-Rescue

Chapter 21-Rescue   
  
"Kyp, Ralya's alive!" Jaina exclaimed, just as Kyp said, "Jaina, you were right!"   
  
"We have to go find her," Jaina said, getting up.   
  
"We don't know where she is!"   
  
"Somewhere with ysalamiri. It's not that she's dead, they're just blocking the Force."   
  
"Then who was the dead body?"   
  
Jaina looked away and whispered, "I don't know."   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
  
A short while later, Kyp and Jaina were on a speederbike, zooming through the jungle, not knowing where they were going, searching for a place where the Force was not. And then they found it.   
  
The initial sensation was not unlike being suddenly and unexpectedly plunged into ice water. Jaina momentarily lost all sensation in her mind and body. Then, when some but not all of it returned, she quickly realized that something was wrong.   
  
She could no longer feel her baby.   
  
"We need to go out!" she said to Kyp.   
  
"What's wrong?" he asked as he turned around.   
  
"I cant feel the baby! He'll be--"   
  
They left the Force-empty bubble, and Jaina stopped as she reached out with the Force to comfort her frightened unborn child. "Kyp, I can't go," she said. "The baby won't be able to sense me, and he'll be scared. You have to find Ralya and Brekk. I'll walk back."   
  
"You can't walk back--"   
  
"You can't find them quickly enough if you're on foot," Jaina said, cutting off his protests. "I'll be fine." She gently pressed her lips to his. "I'll see you again soon." I hope.   
  
Kyp heard the added thought that she didn't want to say out loud, and belatedly realized that he had been thinking the same thing.   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
  
What was Ralya thinking? Brekk wondered. She couldn't keep them believing something like that for too long. If she had to bluff, couldn't she have thought of something better?…   
  
Unless it wasn't a bluff.   
  
But it had to be a bluff. Ralya wouldn't do something like that to him. She must have been trying to get him to escape on his own. But he couldn't do that. He had to think of a way to get her out, too.   
  
Even if it killed him.   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
  
Kyp had been all over the area of the jungle that was inside the ysalamiri's bubble, but he did not see any sign of Ralya or Brekk. Then, all of a sudden, he felt the Force; but just as suddenly it was gone.   
  
He stopped, hopped off the speederbike, and walked around. He found it again. But it was impossible. A place within the ysalamir's Force-empty bubble where the Force could still exist…   
  
Kyp looked all around, and his wandering gaze stopped at the pack on the ground in front of him.   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
  
Koori was angry. Not just angry, she was infuriated. She hated the girl. The boy too, but the girl much more. She knew she wasn't a human replica droid about to blow up, but Yrbel wouldn't listen. He wouldn't know about these things, he wasn't a Jedi. And she hadn't done much to earn his trust. Well, she would have to disobey him once again.   
  
She would have to kill Ralya herself.   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 


	22. Chapter 22-Realization

Chapter 22-Realization   
  
Kyp saw the entrance to the underground hideout, and went inside. This must be where all the ysalamiri are, he realized. If he could get in there and kill the ysalamiri, he would be able to sense Ralya and find out where she was.   
  
Maybe she would even be down there, but that would not be a good thing.   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
  
Ralya sat thinking, sorting through images in her head, trying to figure out the intentions and perhaps the weakness of their strange captors. Dashana's dead body…the ysalamir that they had seen next to it…Koori, using the Force inside the ysalamir's bubble…Koori, dropping her pack…   
  
And then it came to her. She knew what the anigari was. It pulled the Force towards it. It provided a small area where the Force existed, even within the ysalamir's bubble. It was impossible, and yet somehow it worked. It must draw the Force from above the bubble, she realized.   
  
But Koori had dropped the anigari before entering the underground hideout, where the ysalamiri were presumably kept. The anigari and the ysalamiri must do something strange when they were too close…   
  
"They created a disturbance in the Force," she said out loud. "That was how Dashana and Lyss died…"   
  
"Very good," came Koori's voice. "I was wondering how long it would take you to figure it out. Of course, you're not a real Human Replica Droid. And that is why I have to kill you."   
  
Ralya moved back, and her hand brushed against an object on the floor of her cell. Even in the dark, she knew what it was: Aruna Ni's lightsaber.   
  
Aruna Ni had been there.   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
  
Kyp entered a room and saw at least two dozen ysalamiri. Strangely, though, he saw no guard. And then he heaerd a muffled   
shouting.   
  
Kyp looked around until he discovered the source of the noise: a man, gagged and tied to a chair.   
  
After considering it for a moment, Kyp slipped the man's gag off. The first words out of his mouth were: "Don't kill the ysalamiri!"   
  
"Why not?" he asked.   
  
"Koori will be able to use the Force! She'll kill us all!"   
  
Kyp stared in shock. "Koori's dead!"   
  
"If only she were! I never wanted to work with a Dark Jedi, but Yrbel hired her. The ysalamiri kept her from using the Force, but now she's gone crazy! She's trying to kill the prisoners!"   
  
Ralya and Brekk! "A boy and a girl?"   
  
"Yes."   
  
"So Koori was the one behind killing the students at the Academy?"   
  
"I don't know anything about that. I'm a scientist, not a murderer."   
  
So it was Koori all along, Kyp realized. We have to get rid of the ysalamiri. Koori will have the Force, but hopefully three Jedi against one will win out.   
  
If I can find them fast enough.   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
  
The dark shadow Ralya was trying to hide in provided little protection. But a lightsaber would hold off Koori for a while, even without the Force.   
  
Then she saw Koori take out her own lightsaber and extend the red blade. Koori was a Dark Jedi, Ralya realized too late.   
  
And suddenly the Force returned.   
  
Ralya felt her father and Brekk, but knew that they were too far away to help her before it was too late. She was on her own.   
  
And then she remembered her dream. The two lightsabers dueling, though no hands held them...   
  
Ralya extended the silver blade of Aruna Ni's lightsaber. And suddenly it was flying towards Koori, suspended only by the power   
of the Force.   
  
Koori saw it coming, a look of mixed anger and shock on her face. She blocked the silver blade with her red one, and moved quickly from defense position to attack. She slashed viciously at the silver   
lightsaber so that Ralya lost control for a moment and let it fly to close to her for comfort. She pulled it back to her hand and quickly slashed out as the red blade of Koori's lightsaber came flying towards her. Koori wasn't holding it.   
  
Ralya pulled that lightsaber towards her also, but encountered a resistance. Koori was pulling it in the opposite direction.   
  
Sweat beaded on Ralya's brow, dripped down her face and neck as she struggled to prevent Koori from getting her lightsaber back. She was spending all her energy, she knew, and if Koori did get the lightsaber she wouldn't be able to fight her.   
  
But then she saw something that Koori didn't: Brekk.   
  
Brekk shoved Koori with all his might, and the lightsaber that had been suspended in midair suddenly flew towards Ralya, went over her head as she ducked, and crashed into the wall, sending sparks flying.   
  
Brekk ran up to Ralya and grabbed her hand. "Come on! Let's get out of here!"   
  
They had only gone a few steps when they heard Koori's voice. "Not so fast!" They turned to see her standing up, a crazed look in her eye and a blaster in her hand. "You're mine, Atta Nelde!" she said.   
  
And then she pulled the trigger. 


	23. Chapter 23-Conclusions

Chapter 23-Conclusions   
  
Several things happened at once.   
  
Ralya, even in her weakened state, instinctively reached out with the Force and hurled the nearest heavy object at Koori. It had the effect of gently bumping Koori's arm and throwing off her aim somewhat but not badly, which was not at all Ralya's intention.   
  
It was Brekk who saved her life. He pushed her down to the ground just as the laser burned into his shoulder. Only concerned with saving his friend, he barely felt the pain.   
  
Koori was getting ready to fire again when she suddenly fell to the ground, unconcious. And there was Kyp standing behind her, holding his lightsaber with which he had just knocked her on the head.   
  
"Why don't we all go home now?" he said.   
  
Ralya just cried.   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
  
"So killing the students at the Academy was all Koori?" Jaina asked. "Then why was she involved with scientists? And what were they doing here?"   
  
"Something rather interesting with clones," Kyp replied. "They would clone a young person and grow the clone to an old age to see the possible effects of various genetic diseases. The whole thing was highly illegal, but many of the scientists believed it was moral because they would be helping people even if they did kill their clones. And Yrbel, who was kind of the leader, didn't care if it was moral or not as long as he got money."   
  
"Why Yavin IV?"   
  
Kyp shrugged. "It was as good a place as any. I guess they just forgot about the Academy and the effects of ysalamiri on Jedi."   
  
"When did Koori come in?" Jaina asked.   
  
"She stumbled upon them accidentaly one day and realized they had ysalamiri for growing the clones," Ralya explained. "That was all she needed to begin her murderous plot." She explained about the reaction between the ysalamiri and the anigari. "That was how Koori killed Dashana and Lyss. She tried to kill Aruna Ni, but somehow something went wrong. And then she used the cloning tanks to create clones of Brekk, herself, and me."   
  
"And it turns out that it's a very good thing you didn't come, Jaina," Kyp continued. "The anigari does strange things to unborn children. You might have had a miscarriage."   
  
"That was in my dream," Ralya said.   
  
"But do you know how to bring back Aruna Ni?" Tenel Ka asked Ralya.   
  
She shook her head. "No. I don't even know if it's possible."   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
  
Ralya saw Brekk later that day. His shoulder was bandaged but he looked allright. "I never thanked you, did I, for saving my life?" she asked.   
  
"I made a promise," he replied. "I said you weren't gonna die. You would have done the same thing for me."   
  
"Brekk, you're my best friend."   
  
"You're my best friend too."   
  
Forever, they both added silently as they exchanged a hug.   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
  
Something was different. Aruna Ni had definitely heard voices, for the first time in what seemed like so long. And she was sure she had felt someone's hand holding her own, someone who was   
gone now.   
  
She was leaving the horror of her mind and returning to the land of the living. Somehow, against all odds, she had survived.   
  
Her whole body ached, but even that sensation was welcome; for at least she was feeling.   
  
Slowly, though no one was there to see her, Aruna Ni opened her eyes.   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 


End file.
